You know how most escape rooms are dark and mysterious, right? Well, forget it. Colours is probably – and pardon my lack of originality – the most colourful room you’ll see around. Everything is bright, cute and colourful, there are props everywhere and at some point that amount of information adds to the challenge, because you are completely overloaded with – again – colours.

As with X-Door Valencia’s White and Black, Colours does not require any language skills. All puzzles were cleverly done in a way that no reading or writing was necessary. We thought it was very nice, as it allows you to do a escape room even if you do not speak the local language.

I (Pá) am a big fan of happy colourful stuff (i.e. Little Pony, anime, unicorns) and loved to play a room that had a happy feel and some ‘childish’ touches, such as toys and posters. But the puzzles, oh dear, those were a big challenge even for four grown ups.

The moment you enter Colours is a bit shocking, especially if you just played the serious and austere White & Black. The walls are colourful, the ceiling is all painted, there are posters and toys everywhere and a hundred thousand props. The effect is kaleidoscopic.

It took us a while to go through everything. Most props were, in one way or another, connected to puzzles in the room. There were plenty of logical puzzles, some that required steady hands, association puzzles and a particular one that made me regret my inability to type without looking at my own fingers.

There wasn’t any puzzle that required more than one person to be solved, but a lot of them were much easier if there were two or more people tackling it. Many times, I worked with my mom while my dad and Trapspringer were doing something else.

Colours is non-linear and allows you to solve many things in parallel. It seems to have more puzzles than White & Black, but because the room is not so ‘serious’, you don’t feel the pressure as much. We actually had a very good time, laughed and did so much that we could barely believe all that was happening in only one hour.

We needed only two hints, which came in the form of images on a screen. One of them looked completely alien to me and Trapspringer, but my parents understood immediatly and solved the puzzle in no time. I suppose that’s why it’s good to have a varied team, right?

X-Door was created by two Spanish brothers and started in Valencia, but now there are branches in other cities around Spain (Madrid, Bilbao, Alicante) and the rest of Europe (i.e. Milan). If you manage to pass by any of them, jump into one of those rooms. You may be speechless. Good thing they do not require any language skills!

Out of the Room

Service: Staff was very friendly, briefed us very well in English and took photos with our cameras. He was also very attentive to our game, which is always good in a escape room. X-Door does not take credit cards, so take cash to pay it on the spot (or make a bank transfer, if you have a Spanish account).

Communication: Hints were given through a screen located inside the room only when we were stuck. They came in the form of pictures, drawings and images. Reading was not needed. Our hints were extremely precise, a nice indication that the gamemaster was following each of our steps.

Surroundings: X-Door is located in the centre of Valencia, not too far for the Central Market, and 10 min walk from main attractions such as the Cathedral and the Ceramic Museum. During the day there are plenty of restaurants around. We played at night, but even after midnight we found a nearby McDonald’s to have a snack.